My name is Joseph Antrosio — this is what I achieve at Aha!

What is the best way to accelerate your career? Work at a high-growth company that challenges you and puts learning first. An unwavering motivation to continue improving and achieving is also key. The highest performers constantly pursue new ideas and seek to understand the experiences and motivations of the people around them. We can learn a lot from them.

Curiosity fuels growth — which is why we want to bring you personal stories of achievement from talented people. Our hope is that some of their ideas are useful (and maybe even inspirational) as you work to become your best.

Meet Director of Information Security Joseph Antrosio, who has been part of the Aha! engineering team for more than seven years. He enjoys digging into the complex code behind our product features and carrying out comprehensive security reviews. And the Aha! team's shared commitment to doing high-quality work helps drive his joy and success. Joseph lives in Bothell, Washington, with his family. Outside of his role, he enjoys collecting vintage woodworking tools to build boxes and small furniture by hand.

Read on to learn more about how he finds meaning in his work — in his own words. Joseph shares his thoughts in the following responses:

What types of projects do you enjoy working on most?

I most enjoy engineering projects where I can dig deeply into the technical implementation of a feature or component and provide useful security and engineering guidance.

In particular, I love partnering with talented engineers during the development cycle so our code can reach a more robust state.

Some of my favorite projects to work on with them have been our real-time collaborative editor and custom worksheets and equations. Because they are complex, they provide a welcome challenge.

What is something that makes your role at Aha! unique?

My role at Aha! is unique because of the breadth of considerations that go into each security review combined with the technical depth needed to make sure our work is resilient. We perform security reviews at Aha! on an ongoing basis as part of the design, development, and release process. Additionally, we have annual third-party audits to maintain our compliance with ISO 27001: a set of internationally recognized IT security standards.

In just one security review, I might consider ISO 27001 standards compliance, encryption best practices, web application vulnerabilities, network security, and operating system hardening. When we introduced our European Union data center, for instance, we had to evaluate security at many different levels. That really engaged us.

I also bring lessons learned and best practices back to the Aha! security and engineering teams. And I talk with customers and external auditors to understand the controls and our dedication to security.

What are the biggest challenges in your role — and how have you solved them?

One of the biggest challenges in my role is balancing protections and product usability. Our goal is to provide safe and well-explained default settings while still offering the right set of options for enhanced control. For example, we provide an easy sharing experience for presentations and documents, but we also empower customers by giving them options to further manage access or turn off sharing.

The same principle applies to code reviews as well. Secure patterns are reusable templates that can help engineers write secure code for common scenarios in software design. So if I help establish a secure pattern as the easiest one to use, future engineers will employ it effectively in new situations.

What has been the most rewarding thing about joining the Aha! team?

The most rewarding thing about joining Aha! has been working with kind and talented teammates who strive toward the same goals with integrity.

Security cannot be effective without a shared commitment to excellence — so being part of a great team is key to enjoyment and success in a security role. I am constantly impressed by the level of engagement and shared alignment with data standards across the Aha! team, which makes my job tremendously rewarding.

How do you keep learning and building knowledge in your role?

I treat every security review or discussion as an opportunity to be curious, dig deeper, and sharpen my skills.

Software and systems inherently have idiosyncrasies and rough edges; there is always something new under the surface to explore and discover. Picking one area each time to dig into a little bit more and build knowledge for the future is critical to extending my skill set. New vulnerability announcements are another great opportunity to learn and hone my pattern-matching abilities. I can spot new and emerging threats in future reviews and continually improve our security posture.

What advice do you have for an aspiring or early-career information security professional?

First, stay curious and try things out for yourself. Run application code, try to break it, step through it with a debugger, change it, and then repeat that process. This type of learning exercise is an investment that pays rewards over time. Second, don't be afraid to ask questions. Even a generic, but genuine, "Could you share more about why you wrote it that way?" can lead to novel insights.

Finally, be approachable and kind. Your job will be impossible if others avoid you or try to go around you if they think you are difficult to work with. As I mentioned, security takes collaboration and a shared commitment to work well. Your attitude is an important piece of establishing these relationships.

The What I achieve series spotlights the exceptional people on the Aha! team. For insights into how we got here, read our Why I joined posts.

We are bootstrapped, profitable, fully remote, and hiring. Join us and achieve your best.